Dr. Donald Berwick

Obama has bypassed the Senate and appointed Dr. Donald Berwick to run Medicare and Medicaid.

Are Senate Dems outraged?

Dems and RINOs were foaming at the mouth when President George W. Bush appointed John Bolton to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to the UN. They slammed Bush for allegedly circumventing the process.

Some examples:

"At a time when we need to reassert our diplomatic power in the world, President Bush has decided to send a seriously flawed and weakened candidate to the United Nations. It's an unnecessary result, and the latest abuse of power by the Bush White House. ... Bolton arrives at the United Nations with a cloud hanging over his head."

— Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.


"The abuse of power and the cloak of secrecy from the White House continues. ... It's a devious maneuver that evades the constitutional requirement of Senate consent and only further darkens the cloud over Mr. Bolton's credibility at the U.N."

— Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.


"I am truly concerned that a recess appointment will only add to John Bolton's baggage and his lack of credibility with the United Nations. That said, the president has made this decision, and I will do everything in my power to support Mr. Bolton as he takes this new position."

— Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio.


"Making this recess appointment is certainly the president's right, but it is not right for America. Appointing John Bolton to the United Nations sends a terrible message to our intelligence professionals. It is the wrong signal for our intelligence reform efforts."

— Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md.


"John Bolton is the wrong person for the job and the decision to appoint him today will not serve American foreign policy well at all. ... His history of inflammatory statements about the U.N. will also make it difficult for him to effectively advance U.S. security interests in New York and bring about necessary reforms to that institution."

— Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.


"The president has the right to make this recess appointment, but it's the wrong decision. It only diminishes John Bolton's validity and leverage to secure America's goals at the U.N. John Bolton has been rejected twice by the Senate to serve as our Ambassador to the United Nations. This is not the way to fill our most important diplomatic jobs."

— Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

"It's sad that even while the president preaches democracy around the world, he bends the rules and circumvents the will of Congress in appointing our representative to the United Nations."

— Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J.

So are these Dems upset about Obama's recess appointment of Donald Berwick?

Was it an "abuse of power" by the Obama White House?

A "devious maneuver that evades the constitutional requirement of Senate consent"?

Where are the objections to Obama's decision to make a recess appointment?

Cue the crickets.



From the Associated Press:

President Barack Obama bypassed the Senate Wednesday and appointed Dr. Donald Berwick, a Harvard professor and patient care specialist, to run Medicare and Medicaid.

The decision to use a so-called recess appointment to install Berwick as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services drew immediate fire from the GOP. Republicans have raised concerns about Berwick's views on rationing of care and other matters and said it was wrong for Obama to go around the normal Senate confirmation process. That view was echoed by a key Democratic committee chairman, although the recess appointment is a tool used by presidents of both parties.

Berwick has wide support in the medical community but some Democrats feared the GOP would use his confirmation hearings as an opportunity to reopen last year's divisive health care debate. Obama defended the decision to appoint Berwick and two other officials, one to a pension board and the other to a White House science post.

...Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell accused Obama of trying to "arrogantly circumvent the American people" with Congress out of town for its annual July Fourth break. Berwick could serve through next year without Senate confirmation.

"Democrats haven't scheduled so much as a committee hearing for Donald Berwick but the mere possibility of allowing the American people the opportunity to hear what he intends to do with their health care is evidently reason enough for this administration to sneak him through without public scrutiny," said McConnell, R-Ky.

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., whose committee would have held Berwick's confirmation hearing, also said he was troubled by the recess appointment. "Senate confirmation of presidential appointees is an essential process prescribed by the Constitution that serves as a check on executive power," said Baucus. Berwick was nominated in April, and Finance Committee staff was still at work on the vetting process it undertakes prior to scheduling a confirmation hearing.

Obama's appointment of Berwick is dramatically different from Bush's appointment of Bolton.

In Bolton's case, the American people had the opportunity to witness the confirmation hearing. Democrats had a forum to raise their concerns, albeit illegitimate ones.

In Berwick's case, there was nothing. No vetting. Talk about secrecy and lack of transparency!

...Berwick, 63, is a pediatrician, Harvard University professor and leader of a health care think tank, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, that works to develop and implement concepts for improving patient care. The programs he will oversee — Medicare and Medicaid for the elderly, poor and disabled, along with the Children's Health Insurance Program — provide care to about 100 million people, or around 1 in 3 Americans.

Satisfied?

Do you know enough about Berwick to be comfortable with Obama's appointment?

...Republicans have seized on comments like one Berwick made to an interviewer last year: "The decision is not whether or not we will ration care — the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open. And right now, we are doing it blindly."

Republicans say that shows Berwick would deny needed care based on cost. Supporters contend rationing already is done by insurance companies and Berwick simply wants transparency and accountability in medical decisions.

It's just those echoes of the health care debate that Democrats would prefer not to replay on the Senate floor.

Of course, Republicans are concerned about Berwick's views on rationing health care. Their constituents share those concerns.

It's certainly easier for a patient and family and physician to do battle with an insurance company than for them to take on the mandatory rationing rules of the federal government.

It's certainly a bad sign that AARP supports Berwick. AARP is fully on board with ObamaCare and vigorously campaigned for its passage. The organization deceived its members about what ObamaCare would mean for them.

I object to the fact that there were absolutely no hearings on the confirmation of Berwick. Americans didn't have a chance to hear a word from him. He didn't have to respond to any questions at all.

That's disturbing. That's an abuse of power by Obama.

Bottom line: The Democrats were afraid to subject Berwick to questioning because ObamaCare itself would have been placed under the microscope again.

That would have been bad news for Dems so close to the midterm elections.

Obama's recess appointment of Berwick without any hearing is also bad news for Dems. It verifies Obama's penchant for grabbing power and the Democrat party's habit of ignoring the will of the American people.
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Listen to the radical Berwick. (From Heartland.org)





Read Berwick's radical agenda, compiled by Ben Domenech, Heartland.org.

Read Domenech's "On the Recess Appointment of Donald Berwick."

King Barack simply appointed this radical. No vetting whatsoever by the Senate. No opinions from the American people taken into consideration at all.